Terms and Conditions

Visiting Scholars Program Award Terms and Conditions

By acceptance of this award, the awardee agrees to fully comply with and adhere to the terms and conditions of the URA VSP awards.

I. Effective Date of Award

a. Awards are assumed to be of one year duration and to begin on the approved start date of the award activity indicated in the award notification letter. In any case, fall awards may not begin later than March 31 of the following year. Spring awards may not begin later than September 30 in the year of application.

b. Awards may not fund activities occurring prior to the start date indicated in the award notification letter. Pre-award expenditures are not allowable.

II. Award Duration and Time Limit to Expend Funds

a. All covered expenses must have been incurred prior to the expiration of the award.

b. Awardees cannot make unilateral changes to any of the award conditions. Unauthorized expenditures will not be covered. Any requests for adjustment of award term and expenditures must be approved in advance by the Visiting Scholars Program.

c. The VSP may authorize a one-time no-cost extension of the end date of the award (up to 12 months) if additional time beyond the established end date is required to assure adequate completion of the original scope of work within the unexpended balance of the award. The no-cost extension request, not to exceed 12 months, must be made prior to the originally established end date. This one-time extension may not be requested merely for the purpose of using any unexpended balances.

Awardees shall notify the VSP in writing at least four weeks prior to the end date specified in the award, providing a revised timetable and how the awardee plans to complete the project within the unexpended balance of the award. No-cost extensions to existing URA VSP awards are only granted to complete work that was approved for funding in the original proposal.

III. Limitations

a. Funding is strictly for individuals, activities and expenses approved in the award notification letter, subject to the URA Visiting Scholars Program guidelines.

b. Visiting Scholar funds are intended for scholarship. Requests to visit the laboratory solely for the purpose of operation of Fermilab facilities are discouraged.

c. Applicants must be employed by or, in the case of graduate students, enrolled at URA member institutions during the course of the award.

d. The applicant’s home institution must agree to waive indirect costs, tuition, fees and other administrative expenses.

e. Reimbursement of tuition is unallowable.

f. No awards will be made to faculty or postdocs in the terminal year of their appointment.

g. The Visiting Scholars award may not be used for travel away from Fermilab (e.g., to visit another facility or attend a conference) or solely for the purpose of operating Fermilab facilities.

h. Awards may not be used for household moving expenses or in support of accompanying family members.

i. Support provided by the program may include the following: travel and local lodging expenses for a series of short visits OR salary support and round trip travel expenses for an extended visit, but not for both.

j. Summer salary support is limited to two months.

k. Funding cannot be provided for activities that predate the start date of the award. Applicants should plan the submission of their proposals accordingly.

l. Maximum award limit of $50,000 in a twelve month period and a lifetime limit of $50,000 per awardee.

IV. Reporting Requirement

a. Awardees are required to submit a brief project report on the completion of their project (VS Project Report Form). Final project reports should be submitted electronically no later than 30 days after the completion of the project. Failure to submit final reports will delay VSP review and processing of pending and future proposal applications and administrative actions, including, but not limited to, no-cost extensions.

V. Visas

a. Visitors do not become Fermilab employees. They therefore must have a home institution and, if a visa is necessary, must obtain that visa through the home institution.

VI. Health Coverage

a. Awardees are required to secure health coverage during their tenure at Fermilab. In cases where the home institution does not extend sufficient health coverage for longer stays at Fermilab, additional coverage for the time at Fermilab must be obtained by the visitor or his/her home institution. The cost of such supplemental coverage may be included in the budget.

VII. Reimbursement of Covered Costs

Individual Awards

a. Award disbursements from URA to the awardees home institution are made upon receipt of invoices documenting costs to be reimbursed under the award.

b. All expenditures reported (or payment requested) on the invoice must be certified by the grants official (Sponsored Research Office) of the awardee’s home institution to be appropriate and comply with the terms and conditions of the URA Visiting Scholars award. All invoices must be submitted to the URA corporate office at:

c. Consistent with the requirement that the awardees home institution must agree to waive indirect costs, tuition, fees and other administrative expenses, the invoice may not request reimbursement of indirect costs.

d. Invoices MUST include the name of the awardee and the corresponding URA VSP award number.

e. Final invoices should be submitted to URA no later than 90 days after expiration of the award.

Effective as of the spring 2017 cycle, individuals from URA universities participating in Fermilab Group Awards (conferences, workshops, summer schools, and/or training activities at Fermilab) will submit out-of-pocket travel expenses for participating in such activities directly to URA and they will be reimbursed directly by URA.

a. It is the responsibility of the Fermilab awardee to provide the URA VSP Manager with a list of approved attendees from URA member universities.

b. It is also the responsibility of the Fermilab awardee to notify each URA member participant what travel expenditures (and dollar limits) are reimbursable under their VSP group award.

c. At the conclusion of the trip, travel reimbursement requests should be submitted to the URA Visiting Scholars Program (vsp@ura-hq.org). Participants must complete the group award travel reimbursement form, attach copies of all receipts, and a completed & signed W9 form (if you are a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person, including a resident alien individual), or Form W-8BEN. Expenses that do not have a corresponding receipt will not be reimbursed. Once the travel reimbursement form has been submitted and approved, the URA accounting office will process the out-of-pocket reimbursement and send payment in the form of a check to the address indicated on the URA VSP group award travel reimbursement form.

VIII. Acknowledgment of Support

a. The awardee is responsible for acknowledging URA Visiting Scholars Program support in any publication (including world wide web and social media pages) of any material / activity based on or developed under the Universities Research Association’s Visiting Scholars Award Program: “This material / name of conference or activity is based upon work that is supported by the Visiting Scholars Award Program of the Universities Research Association.

b. Disclaimer

The awardee is responsible for assuring that every publication of material based on or developed under this award, except scientific articles or papers appearing in scientific, technical or professional journals, contains the following disclaimer:

“Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Universities Research Association, Inc.”

c. Copies for the Visiting Scholars Program

The awardee is responsible for assuring that the VSP Program Manager is provided access to, either electronically or in paper form, a copy of every publication of material based on or developed under this award, clearly labeled with the award number and other appropriate identifying information, promptly after publication.